“Hollywood has had its fingers and toes in the White House for decades,” according to award-winning journalist Kathleen Sharp.

In her Nov. 15 lecture a SBCC School of Extended Learning, Sharp will reveal the surprising ways moguls and agents have shaped American politics.

From the era of Eisenhower and JFK, through the administrations of LBJ, farmer Jimmy Carter, actor Ronald Reagan, Gov. Bill Clinton, and culminating with TV game show host Donald Trump, entertainment impresarios have secretly packaged talent for our nation’s highest offices, Sharp reports.

Sharp’s talk, Hollywood’s Overarching Influence on the Body Politic, will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, in Room 31 at the SBCC Schott Campus, 310 Padre St. Cost is $20.

For information, email info@theCLL.org or call 687-0812. Course number is 21218.

The topic is so timely that Blackstone Publishing is issuing a new paperback version of Sharp’s classic history Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire. Kirkus Reviews called it “dramatic and enthralling.”

“As early as 1951, Hollywood was already advising presidents. Our culture started to become, from the Eisenhower days on, more attuned to entertainment, flash and dazzle,” Sharp said.

“Eventually, the superficial aspects of a candidate mattered more than his public policies or experience,” she said.

Sharp, an investigative journalist, will cover the complex relationship between studio moguls, lobbyists and the federal government.

From the mobbed-up studio days of the 1930s, to the Justice Department’s crackdown in the ’60s, to the pernicious tradition of the “casting couch,” Hollywood has shaped Washington, D.C., in ways you never imagined, she reports.

Sharp will also outline three things citizens can do to refocus voter attention on what truly matter in a functioning democracy. Her talk includes a slide presentation.

Signed copies of Mr. & Mrs. Hollywood will be available for purchase, courtesy of Tecolote Book Shop.

“The SBCC School for Extended Learning is committed to serving our diverse community with in-demand classes that help to enrich our lives or advance our careers,” said Melissa Moreno, interim vice president, School of Extended Learning.

“We are fortunate to have such dynamic professionals as Kathleen Sharp here to share insights into such a timely topic,” Moreno said.

Sharp has been published in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Elle, Vogue, and Fortune. Oprah Magazine selected Sharp’s book, Blood Medicine: Blowing the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever, as a Top Ten Pick.

Sharp has been a featured speaker at events as varied as the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City, the National Steinbeck Center, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, JP Morgan Global Leaders Conference, and CALM’s Author Luncheon.

— Angel Pacheco for SBCC School of Extended Learning.